Slumber Party Massacre "Trilogy", using the term all willy nilly

       One common trait among the overly excitable, anti-pop culture centric basement trolls(commonly known as nerds) is the uncanny ability to marathon any given movie franchise, television or video game series with only the help of over yellowed soft drinks and bare minimum hygiene.  This is ability becomes a curse(believe it or not) to those nerds who particularly enjoy the visceral and righteous art form that is the Slasher movie genre. Most of the time a horror will lose its UNF when the fat Hollywood pigs realize the money making potential of a decent horror title and churn out subsequent related films like so many Big Macs. This is where we get the origin stories, 3D titles, remakes, revamps and titles hitting double digits. IF done correctly some of these ain't half bad (Jason, Freddy and good ol' leather Face) but most of the time we end up with Saw 19 and Final Destination Christmas Carol. As a rule of thumb, when it comes to horror sequels the lower the budget the better the flick, so naturally... a campy trilogy of barely legal wide eyed brunettes getting drilled(heheheehe) seemed like a good way to spend a lazy Sunday.
     I find it a bit...misrepresented to call Slumber Party Massacre a Trilogy. Yes, there are 3 of them and they do share the same name...but I found that movies have little to do each other. That is not to say that these films are bad...or rather not entertaining. Each installment in the series adds a unique flavor to the trite gathering of scanty clad, 17 ish girls getting picked off one by one scenario.

 The Slumber Party Massacre

   What would a gathering of stupid teenagers be without a themed based killer on the loose? It would be Glee...but I digress. In this, our cherry popping installment in the Slumber Party series the killer targets the women of an average High School with his power tool arsenal, favoring his trusty power drill. When the girls varsity basketball team decide to have a slumber party, the Home Depot aficionado is not far behind with a really long extension cable en tow. This films satisfies that gore-craving just a smidgen, being on par with tame slashers like Halloween and Friday the 13th. The dialogue is memorable and has the "so bad its good" thing that the kids keep going on about. It tosses aside the "who dunnit?" by showing you the killer while the credits are still rolling. This guy has no motive to kill, he merely enjoys it which is a much more disturbing thing than a killer with a purpose. Not vastly original but its nice to see a movie not relying on this trope. The acting or rather the eye candy, sorry that's what it is...are good at conveying the hopeless feeling of being trapped in a wide open house. The deaths are alright but nothing to write home about. Over all a pretty entertaining hour and change of 80's slasher goodness.

Slumber Party Massacre II

In the second installment we follow the sister of the sole survivor of the first movie. She is dealing with recurring nightmares of a killer she never saw in the first place. It is a stretch but this might be the only thing that connect the two films, lest I forget the high-light reel of the first movie playing during the opening credits. The aforementioned younger sibling is off to a far away condo where her and her girlfriends(who are in a band) are gonna have a slumber party in order to practice for an upcoming school dance. Our protagonist suffers from visions and nightmares that seem to come true, hold on a sec the infringement train doesn't stop there. The slasher is a seemingly supernaturally powered smart mouth with a knack for killing women in very creative and outlandish ways. Sound familiar? The writer thought so too, adding side characters named Kruger and Craven, seemingly an attempt to kinda debunk copying, make it seem like a homage to Freddy Kruger.The killing is done by a smart mouthed every man that cracks wise and uses each teens "subtly" mentioned fears to kill them, making each kill that much more unique, although ultimately they get stabbed by a drill, it just so happens that its at the end of an elaborate electric guitar. The second installment takes a much cruder stab at story telling, focusing more on the scantily clad ladies and raunchy humor, a stark contrast to the brutal realism of the series. Aside from copying Nightmare on Elm Street, this movie is alright, its worth mentioning that this is my least favorite of the three. 

Slumber Party Massacre III

If the first installment was like Halloween and part 2 like Nightmare on Elm Street, then the third is more like Sleep Away Camp. Taking it back to basics, it could be considered a remake of sorts, having nothing to do with the first two. We follow a group of teenage girls after a hard day of beach volleyball, they decide to have a sleep over shindig. Naturally, their sexually frustrated male counter parts show up uninvited to try to catch a glimpse pf the naughty ongoings that will no doubt unfold in the lonely suburban home.  Murder and boob exposure ensue. III takes the formula from the first installment and reinvigorates it with the added "who dunnit?" aspects that are a genre staple. This time around the killer is given motivation, at the risk of spoiling what is an uncommonly good story, I will delve no further. The death seem to fall 'tween the first and second installment, as far as gore goes. Each kill is very brutal, but not  over saturated with red corn syrup. A tasteful visceral romp into the death of unsuspecting teens. This is by far my favorite of the three, like a tune up to the first movie, actually doing it right this time around with proper story, characters and suspense. a definite must watch for lovers of the genre.

        All together the three movies seldom make a reference to one another, that is the charm to this misguided trilogy, each installment has its own feel and flavor. This makes it ideal for marathon, themes never get old, deaths are creative and unique all the way through and the incredi-bad writing will give you some deep belly laughs.

Maniac(1980) *VS* Maniac(2013)

      Most people who consider themselves movie buffs often utter the phrase "well, it's no ____" or "at least it was better than ____" when giving recommendations. It is much easier reviewing movies
when have two side by side, but I'm not a complete idiot, not completely, I won't compare apple to oranges, we need at least two compatible films. More often than
not we see the horror movies these days are either complete reboots of obscure titles or complete rip offs  When I first found about the remake of 1980's groundbreaking slasher movie MANIAC I didn't know how to feel, the movie was ahead of its time in its storytelling,it could benefit from a modernization of its story it has a lot of relevance in today's world but are classics better left alone?? It could be biz as usual a sub-par shot for shot  remake that does the original no justice or a complete retelling with the same  core story and plot twists that make it a  brilliant re-imagining of a classic, leaving genre purist with little to say afterwards. Either way, it is pretty fair that we compare the two movies and see which is the better film and if both are worth a watch or not.
MANIAC(1980)
 For Frank Zito it has been considerably easy to deal with traumas of childhood, simply imagine your mother is the women you brutalize on a nightly basis...well it doesn't sound easy when you say it like that. Maniac is a slasher flick that focuses on the slasher and not the victims, revealing what could push a man to go on a murderous rampage. What happens off camera in other horror movies take center stage in Maniac, you see Zito catching up to the victim, the tactics he uses to get near the scantily clad ladies and you see the murder from a first person POV. This is a little jarring to see stalking and stabbing through the eyes of the murderer, every stab, every fast paced step, making you feel Zito's struggle to try to stop himself from killing again. This leaves you pedaling water morally, yes it is wrong to kill women, no matter what kind of mommy issues you have...but those that make you an evil person or just....sick? Maniac makes you think, unlike the clear cut black and white slasher movies where the hot ladies are angelic and good and the shady characters are undoubtedly evil.
  Beside the "thinky" smart stuff, Maniac contains some pretty cool murder scenes. About as much red corn oil and spongy fake meat than can be expected from any self-respecting B-Movie, it does not disappointing on these fronts. The soundtrack is a bit lacking but using Zito's heavy breathing as his murder theme was a stroke of genius. Also any movie in which famous special FX guru Tom Savini is brutally wasted holds a very special place in my heart.
Maniac(2013)
Using the same basic story as the original, there nothing much to be said on that front. Elijah Wood as Frank was brilliant, he portrayed the disturbed role pretty well. The most notable difference between the two films is the almost exclusive first person POV used in the remake, at first this was a pretty cool gimmick but towards the end of the movie it got to be just that...way to gimmicky for my taste. There was an unrealistic amount of mirrors and reflective surfaces in these peoples homes, this took away from the experience, taking me out of the story by making me realize that I in fact was watching a movie, I'm not asking for complete submersion but if they used first person view in a handful of scenes it wouldn't have come across as forced. Although, when they did pan out of first person POV so that you could actually see Frank's face while he stabs and stabs and stabs was a sick and twisted flash of pure genius.
    Mostly using the same story as the original, the story did branch off in certain points. All of which are justified, making the story much more believable than the original, I found this ones plot easier to digest... why would a fat, greasy and obviously fucked in the head dude hang out with a very attractive model and photographer. The story just seemed a bit more hashed out in this
version.
 *VS*
Side by side both are very good slasher movies, both have crazy murdering dudes, both have creative and gory death scenes, both have sexy ladies dying all over the place...but the edge has to go to the original Maniac from 1980, only for the less gimmicky use of camera and Tom Savini's exploding head. But both films come recommended as far as slasher films go.

Shady tapes, the charm of bootleg flicks and their influence on the current state of cinema

        For those of us not spoiled with internet and its various torrents and streaming sites and ebays, in addition the growing popularity that Tarantino has sprung in the B-movie and its many sub-genres many cut-classic movies and lesser known exploitation flicks have become available at major retail stores. We had it tough...we had to get our hands dirty to get our grindhouse fix. Breaking copyright laws in the days before high-speed internet  was a real wild west, we didn't know what the hell we were doin...luckily, aside from adding a little disclaimer at the beginning of a movie, the powers that be didn't know what we were doin either.

            My first experiences with bootleg movies was in the early 90's before Japanese animation really hit its stride in the US, anime fans relied on each other to share movies with each other.  Anime films and series were not readily available at retail stores so there was an underground network of  sellers and traders that would record 4 to 8 hours of anime on VHS tapes, no real labels, just a barely legible scribbling detailing the contents of the glorious tape in your hand. Some tapes were third, fourth and sometimes sixth generation recordings, leaving the movie foggy at places with wavering audio, and with the subtitles blurry. I owe my preferences of dubbed to subbed to these bootleg VHS's. My very first tape I got when i was a measly 9 years old, it had Akira, Ghost in a Shell, and half of some other movie that I can not recall at the moment. In spite of the obvious technical flaws I was in heaven, I had a little piece of something that my friends didn't know about, granted a very hipster reason to like something but its the truth, discovering some a masterpiece all on your own with no outside influence is pretty damn cool. Hipster logic aside, the cult-movie movement  relied on these measure to grow into what it is today, word of mouth laying the groundwork for what eventually will evolve into internet forums, God bless Al Gore... 

               As I  began to frequent these side alley swap meet bootleg stands, which were more like blankets sprawled on the ground with VHS littered all over it than actual stands, I began to get into other kinds of movies. Movies that I had never seen at major stores or rental places, movies like Cannibal Holocaust, Zombi, Shaw Bros  kung fu movies and the exploitation flicks of the 70's. Each movie didn't cost much, a few buck over the cost of a blank tape and luckily the faithful and shady shopkeep gave me the option of trading in movies for credit...which in retrospect, I have come to regret, I would love to have some of these in my collection today. As moving usually goes, I lost a few tapes or I let people borrow and forgot to get back....I have one tape left from my early days as a B-Movie aficionado, The Fatal Flying Guillotine, note the shitty box art and the very simple label(which was considered fancy by bootleg standards). 

     With the advent of DVD, bootleg movies have become much easier to get ahold of but have lost a considerable amount of charm that they once had. Usually they are either torrents of new movies, filmed with a camera at the movie theatre by very obvously nervous camera man, or burnt DVD's with the same shaky movie on them. Granted for the regualr schmoe this seems a sub-par option to do your movie viewing, but for the seasoned B-Movie buff this brings the charm of grindhouse movies in a modern setting. Action movies just look better on grainy sources. Recently I enjoyed a bootleg copy of Tarantino's western opus Django Unchained, the nature of the movie and its violent and classic style almost called for it to be viewed on a shitty medium...before you go on about how I'm taking caviar and champagne out of poor ol' Quentin's mouth I will have you know I have seen the movie twice in theatres and plan to buy the super mega special edition of the Blu-ray when that becomes available, yeah, I think I deserve one measly bootleg. 

  Here is a movie that deserved no ones money, note the printed paper artwork, but hey, at least its in color. Admitely out of the manners of bootlegging this is definitely the shadiest, and is about as illigal as small amounts of weed, so be careful and try to stay away from these...unless you just have to get your hands on a copy of the latest Tyler Perry movie. 

50 public domain movies for dat ass

       Like most illegal things in the bless'd U.S of A, companies have found a way around these copyright laws and straight into our pockets. These suit and tie clad weasels have bundled movies that are public domain(not subject to copyright) into packs of 50 and 100 and sold it at a cheap price. Most of them are older movies , usually from the 60's and below and have some pretty cool flick in them and for the asking price, I must admit its a steal. Movies are bundled by Genre, sci-fi and horror usually and are specially full of monster movies with bad special effects. The movies come in box with about a dozen and half dvds in little individual sleeves. Sometimes you will find these movies sold individually, packed in its own case with a printed cd image and everything. Although this way could be a bit a pricer...it does look cool to have on your shelf. You can even rip the movies off of Youtube or other streaming sites and  make your own copy with a custom label. It definitely adds a certain charm to your collection of obscure movies. Remember...public domain movies are all clear for this...they belong to the public after all. 

a public domain movie packaged on its own

 Inspite of the shadiness that goes with owning and selling bootlegs, B-movie and grindhouse aficianados owe these back alley gems for the current popularity of the genre. We wouldnt have movies like Deathproof, The Evil Dead Remake, Django Unchained, Kung Fu Hustle, Black Dynamite, and Hobo with a Shotgun among many others. Show some fucking respect.

Waflfles(the other fuck on the blog) made this bootleg of the classic Japanese sci-fi movies StarMan to add to his sizeable collection....don't worry,ITS PUBLIC DOMAIN FOOLS